100-year-old Indian vegetarian restaurant Ananda Bhavan's unique thosai and hearty banana leaf meal

Recently, I came to the realisation that my experience of Indian cuisine in Singapore though frequent, was narrow and in need of an overhaul. Prata, murtabak, mutton biryani and fish head curry are my go-tos, but when it comes to going meatless, I'm a complete novice.

Thankfully, a familiar face from TV cooking competition King Of Culinary, celebrity chef SR Bala, was on hand to help widen my perspective at one of Singapore’s best known vegetarian institutions. Bonus – he already had an in with Ananda Bhavan Vegetarian, having trained its chefs 10 years ago.

The restaurant chain celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, making it one of the oldest Indian eateries in Singapore. We met third generation CEO Viren Ettikan at the family’s Syed Alwi Road outlet to learn how the brand established itself in Singapore’s food history.

“Vegetarian food was part of our heritage and culture. It all started at Ellison Building at Selegie Road. My grandfather was the founder. He wanted to share as many items as he could with the community, so this was his passion,” he shared.

In the early years, the family lived on the second floor above the restaurant with various members pitching in to help downstairs when needed. However, the original restaurant has long since relocated and the historical building vacated to make way for construction of the North-South Corridor. Fond memories of their humble beginnings remain, but moving with the times has always been part of the Ananda Bhavan DNA and the brand has expanded to five outlets.

While retaining its roots in South Indian vegetarian cuisine, Ananda Bhavan has also introduced vegan and Jain-friendly dishes, as well as novel fusions including palak paneer pizza and Indian-Chinese offerings such as idly Manchurian. I was stunned by the sheer number of choices on their menu board, so Viren recommended we start with a savoury snack of dahi puri.

“It’s like a canape,” Chef Bala said helpfully. “Dahi means yoghurt.”

“Yeah, this is one of our best sellers and people love it because of the yoghurt texture,” Viren agreed. “This is a very popular chaat item in India, usually sold by the street vendors. On the exterior, it's crisp and inside, it's soft.”

Mini puri (deep-fried hollow dough puffs) were stuffed with mashed potato then topped with sev (crunchy chickpea flour noodles), dahi and three variations of chutney: Mint, tamarind and spicy. Such an abundance of flavour and texture was packed into the bite-sized snack that it was impossible to stop at one.

Hors d'oeuvres devoured, Chef Bala gained us access into the kitchen to watch our next course being prepared by Chef Satasivam, who has been with the restaurant for 23 years. Set thosai, or aptly named “sponge” thosai, had a thicker, cake-like texture and looked quite different from the thin and crispy version I knew.

“This batter is different from the regular thosai. This has got fenugreek seeds and he has used par-boiled rice, poha. Poha is rice flakes,” Chef Bala explained. Turmeric powder gave it a beautiful golden colour. “It's got a lot of health properties in it as well. There's no artificial colouring, it's all natural,” Chef Bala interpreted for Chef Satasivam.

Two set thosai were cooked on a hot griddle till fluffy and porous, with a lightly crisp exterior. They sandwiched a spiced vegetable filling and came served with five condiments: sambar (a lentil-based vegetable stew), coconut chutney, onion chutney, kurma and vengaya kose.

Vengaya, meaning onion in Tamil, was the main ingredient in the traditional gravy. According to Chef Bala, it was Ananda Bhavan’s revival of an age-old recipe using simple household staples of onions and curry leaves. “The last I saw this was in India. I haven't seen it in Singapore,” he said. The non-spicy gravy was silky and smooth, its simplicity belying its intense onion flavour.

Chef Bala also clarified that mild and creamy South Indian kurma “has more of gram dal (split chickpea), more of coconut. It's lighter”. Not to be confused with North Indian korma, which is “a bit richer because it's passed down by the Mughals. So it's got a lot of almonds, cashews, cream”.

The savoury nuttiness of the kurma complemented the earthy turmeric notes of the set thosai. “And it does not have that fermented sour taste that thosai has. It is lesser in that sourness,” Chef Bala noted. 

Rounding off the dish was the spicy onion chutney, which I loved, and the coconut chutney which cooled the fire on my tongue. Dip after dip, bite after bite, the set thosai brought on a delightful complexity of flavours I simply had not expected.

The same could be said for Ananda Bhavan’s South Indian set meal, or thali. Served on a banana leaf and best eaten with hands, there were more than a dozen components including white rice, mini chapati, vadai (doughnut-shaped fritters), papadum (spiced crackers), curd (traditional Indian yoghurt), pickle, sambar, pulikulambu (a tamarind-based vegetable gravy), rasam (soup made with pepper, garlic and tamarind) and three main vegetable dishes.

As I marvelled at the varied and colourful array, Chef Bala encouraged me to taste a little of everything, explaining: “Indian food emphasises a lot on the six senses and the six tastes.”

The traditional healing practice of Ayurveda categorises foods into sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent; believing that meals should incorporate these six tastes for balance and good health. I was beginning to understand why the set came with so many different elements. We were meant to mix and match to bring out different nuances of flavour for a harmonious meal that was still exciting to the tastebuds.

The most surprising discovery of all was Chef Bala’s pro-tip on how to enjoy the thali set’s payasam of the day. In our case, the dessert was made from milk, sugar, spices, vermicelli and mango.

Chef Bala’s instructions gave me licence to literally play with my food, so going completely against my natural instincts, I smashed some papadum over a portion of payasam then mashed in some vadai. This created a tasty concoction of contrasts, spongey vadai and crispy pappadum pairing astonishingly well with creamy-cool mango payasam. For the uninitiated, this is a savoury-sweet trinity worth saving for the last.

For this meat-loving writer, the greatest revelation was that vegetarian cuisine is not boring or bland – not when prepared in so many different ways and with such care. That, coupled with Ananda Bhavan’s hundred-year history of interpreting a cuisine from the Indian subcontinent that goes back thousands of years, served as a convincing testament to the versatility of vegetables.

At Ananda Bhavan, versatility from a business standpoint is just as important as versatility in the kitchen. “From what I know, Ananda Bhavan is one of the pioneer Indian restaurants which incorporated technology into their operations. And I think they have benefited from that. It's a bold move, you know?” Chef Bala revealed.

In the 1990s, innovations such as automated kitchen processes and fast-food style self-service counters were initiated by the second generation and Viren is determined to continue that trailblazing spirit for future generations.

“We want to preserve the legacy Ananda Bhavan has created and also in time to come, the technology will change rapidly so we have to look at how we’re going to adopt the technology into our existing operations,” he said.

As if on cue, their latest implement, a robot server on wheels, glided by.

Ananda Bhavan Vegetarian is located at 95 Syed Alwi Road. It's open daily from 7.30am to 11pm.

Catch Makan Kakis with Denise Tan every Thursday from 11am on MediaCorp GOLD 905.